I personally think that bows began as something just like that, something else, maybe another tool used for a completely different purpose,or a musical instrument (there are instruments similar to bows in some places in Africa) and someone realized that they could use if for launching arrows.

What you say makes no sense. Green, alive wood is completely different and it's not logical at all to escalate that into a bow.

I'm into archery and have tried making a bow myself, using metal tools. It was incredibly hard and didn't result in something that could be used to hunt real game. Imagine doing that with stone tools and no previous knowledge.

And no, bows have no prototype stage. Unless the bow was something else and someone realized that it could be used to launch projectiles, which personally is my favorite theory.

The most amazing thing is how did they even come up with bows and arrows in the first place. An atlatl is kind of obvious, maybe, it's just an extension of your arm, someone might have realized it eventually. But a bow? That's much harder and much less obvious. Humanity took millennia to invent much more obvious things such as the wheel or monjolos.

Using wood's elastic proprieties is not obvious at all. Choosing the right kind and shape is essential. Bows also have no "prototype stage", a bow either works perfectly or it is useless. Someone 50k years ago came up with completely useful bows capable or hunting at least small animals. This person must've been a genius.

That river is weird, it doesn't look natural. Is this the normal water level? It feels like the building is almost below the river level. They definitely ran into water while digging its foundations.

So this was about the time we started to create art and religion, among other things? I wonder if it's related.